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SwissTony

(2,560 posts)
4. Garbage in, garbage out
Tue Jan 24, 2012, 03:15 PM
Jan 2012

Last edited Tue Jan 24, 2012, 04:07 PM - Edit history (2)

If you put data into a modelling software package, it will provide output. This does not mean the output is valid. In what way does it reflect the the psychological processes within the mind? It doesn't. It imposes a mathematical construct which has no basis in anything other than abstract models. I could do a Cox regression or an Weibull regression and get some results. Would they be valid? Probably not.

Two other points...

1) looking at some of their graphs in their PDF, I'd wonder about their goodness of fit statistics.

2) simulation is not a method for confirming results. You build many assumptions into a simulation program. You do the best you can, but you know the limitations of your program. They (hopefully) reflect reality, but they are not reality.

3) <insert Spanish Inquisition joke here> Don't do statistics with n=1

Edited once because I can't type and then again because I used square brackets which hid my absolutely hilarious Spanish Inquisition joke. Maybe not so hilarious.

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